“One of the main reasons I married my ex-husband was because he promised I could raise some chickens. Now, in hindsight, I know that marrying only for the promise of chickens is the wrong reason to get married. But I was young and impressionable.” — Chela Gutierrez, “Prissy”
Previously unpublished fiction by James Dickey. Features by Tessa DeCarlo and Luke Dittrich. Robert Ashford Little remembers his next-door neighbor, William Faulkner. Poetry by Forrest Gander, Michael McFee, and Ron Rash.
Other contribuors include Diane Roberts, Lem Coley, John T. Edge, John Simpkins, and more.
“The Innocent Negro”
By Tessa DeCarlo
The controversial world of outsider art.
Pageants Are My Life
By Luke Dittrich
A trip into the strange heart of child beauty pageants.
The Eye of the Fire
By James Dickey
A previously unpublished story by the author of Deliverance.
An Untidy Pilgrimage
By John T. Edge
The extravagant adventures of the neglected food writer Eugene Walter.
Man’s New Best Friend?
By Andrea Cooper
A North Carolina couple wants to donate tiny horses to the blind. Is this a good idea?
Behind These City Walls
By Diane Roberts
There are mysteries constructed into the very buildings of Washington, DC.
Space Invaders
By John Simpkins
A black American explores the murky racial boundaries of South Africa.
Prissy
By Chela Gutierrez
The thrill and savagery of chicken farming.
Stand and Deliver
Friends and colleagues remember James Dickey (1923–1997)
Growing Up with Mr. Faulkner
Robert Ashford Little as told to T.E. Simmons
Remembering life next door to a Nobel Prize-winner
Straight, No Chaser
By Stewart O’Nan
The unsettling power of Southern Comfort.
The Conflict Within Ourselves
By Lem Coley
A Recent biography of Allen Tate chronicles the Fugitive poet’s inner quarrels.
Sweetening the Lemon
By Tom Piazza
A new collection polishes the tunes of bluesman Blind Lemon Jefferson.
Meditations for Bad Girls
By Vicki Covington
Dealer’s Choice
By Hal Crowther
Gone Off Up North
By Roy Blount Jr.
To Virginia
By Forrest Gander
Spitting
By Michael McFee
The Request
By Ron Rash
Cover: (Left to right) Ensign Charles W. Miller, LTJG. Henry H. Dearing, and LTJG. Bus Alber walking toward their planes on board the USS SARATOGA for the Rabaul raid, 1943. Photo from the National Archives.